John Nez

August 25, 2006

Dear Mr. Pinkwater,

I am a practitioner of the richly rewarding art of children’s book illustration… a surefire shortcut to fame, fortune and guaranteed instant gratification.

As a practicing children’s book illustrator and writer, I’d luv to send you a copy of my new book coming out in September, the title of which is ‘One Smart Cookie’ (Albert Whitman Fall 2006).

It’s a story about a dog named Cookie who wears glasses and reads books and writes on the fridge with a dog biscuit. This lucky dog has electronically obsessed children for owners who do not read books much. It turns out a reading dog is a very useful pet. Cookie goes to school where he becomes a bit of a teacher’s pet. But it all works out in the end though I shouldn’t spoil the story in event you might by some miracle notice this book in the bins and bins full of similar books about reading dogs with eyeglasses named Cookie you might come across.

Anyhow, I would love to send you a review copy of this book only I’m too dumb to figure out where to send it.

I have an online illustration portfolio with samples from my Cookie book there if you’re curious… mixed in with other art from other books.

www.johnnez.com/

Thanks for having this great site where real people can actually talk to you. I’ve had a great time reading through the messages. I wish publishers had sites like this.

Thanks!

Salami, Salami, Boloney

John Nez

p.s. I like that story you wrote about the polar bear that floats away down the Jersey shore. Also I love the Chicken stories too.

I even did up some chicken sketches for that once… since I couldn’t get the image of a 5 foot chicken knocking on a door at the top of a stairway with a boy in a gatsby cap out of my mind. In general the wonderful philosophy you have created to share with the world of ‘Damn the torpedoes and let’s try and have some fun already’ is an excellent philosophy to live and work by.

Have the publisher send it as a review copy, at their expense, not yours. And keep practicing.